Mumbai Indians (MI) suffered their seventh defeat of the Indian Premier League (IPL). With an eight-wicket defeat to Chennai Super Kings (CSK), they are almost out of the playoffs race. As CSK chased down the target of 160 with 11 balls to spare, Hardik Pandya was asked whether he would have done anything different in the bowling department. Dejected all-rounder said that the bowlers would’ve had to throw some fireballs to break the partnership with CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad and young Kartik Sharma. He credited CSK for playing better cricket.
“I don't know what aggressive we would have been. I think we would have had to throw some fireballs to get them out. But yeah, it was, the bowling option which we had, we went with it and they just played smart cricket. And yeah, they were better," the MI skipper said in the post-match presentation.
Pandya on batting struggles in last 10 overs
This was CSK's biggest win over MI in terms of wickets remaining. Pandya had a forgettable outing at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on May 2. With the bat, he could score just 18 runs from 23 deliveries. In two overs he bowled, he couldn’t get a breakthrough and conceded 17 runs. Pandya rued not having more runs on the board. He also said that it was not the kind of pitch where a better can get going straightaway.
“I think at one point of time, we were looking to get around 180, 190. Should have been a good total, but yeah, we could not get the momentum post 10 overs, could not get the finish as well,” the all-rounder said.
“It was not easy to go straightaway and kind of play shots, which even their batters, after getting set, they could not really take on the bowlers. It was more about playing calculative cricket and, making sure that we have the right wickets in hand. At the same point of time, batters could not get under the ball, they bowled better. And, just overall as a bowling unit, they were better and as a batting unit, we were not,” he added.
With another defeat, MI stay in the ninth place on the points table. Even if they win their remaining matches, the five-time champions will have to depend on a certain numbers of permutation and combinations to get a playoffs seat.